


Craters in the Moon

by FreakCityPrincess



Series: A Family History [3]
Category: Noblesse (Manhwa)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Bootleg Therapist Dad Frankenstein, Cadiscord Secret Santa Exchange, Character Study, DA-5 Flashbacks, Found Family Dynamics, Gen, Humor, I swear this isn't all dark and depressing, In which I explore Rael's emotional trauma from having Ragar for a parent, Modern Rael AU, Parent-Child Relationship, Rael grew up in the human world AU, Rael-centric, Ragar is just vibing, Rated for angst and Rael's use of bad language, Sibling Rivalry, Suyi and Yuna are best girls, Takeo-centric, also feat. Takeo's emotional trauma from believing for years that he had a sister, feat. Tao's emotional trauma from loneliness and his lack of self-worth, guest appearance M-21's emotional trauma from being experimented on and losing his best friend
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-10
Updated: 2021-01-10
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:40:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,431
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28084830
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FreakCityPrincess/pseuds/FreakCityPrincess
Summary: Having for the most part grown up an only child, Rael Kertia's existence was nevertheless overshadowed by that of a brilliant brother he'd never met, whom his father would not stop talking about as if Rael was the son he'd rather have left behind in Lukedonia.Enter three modified humans to their already volatile household, and he finds himself in a situation that forces him to compete with yet more people for his father's affection while showing as little vulnerability as possible.
Relationships: Frankenstein & Ragar Kertia, Frankenstein/Cadis Etrama di Raizel, Frankenstein/Ragar Kertia, Im Suyi & Rael Kertia & Seo Yuna, M-21 & Takeo & Tao (Noblesse), Rael Kertia & Ragar Kertia, Rael Kertia & Rajak Kertia, Rael Kertia & Takeo (Noblesse)
Series: A Family History [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2071620
Comments: 14
Kudos: 15
Collections: Cadiscord Secret Santa 2021, The Modern Kertia Expansion Pack: Keeping Up with the Kertias





	Craters in the Moon

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ankesenpaaten](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ankesenpaaten/gifts).



> This fic is set in an AU as described by the tags, which will make more sense as you read it! It takes place in the modern day. Ragar is alive, having chosen to hand down Kartas to Rajak before leaving Lukedonia in search of Raizel with Frankenstein. Rael was born and grew up in the human world.
> 
> Enjoy!

“Be quiet. Father thinks we’re asleep.”

Nibbles didn’t respond except for leaning further into his hand. She never did, but Rael by this point was pretty sure he understood everything she had to say. In his head, Nibbles did speak, and most of what she spoke were curse words, because he found them funny.

It was eleven o’clock, two hours past the time Father had told him to go to bed. He hadn’t seen Rael lift Nibbles from her cage and take her to his room with him, and because the lights were off, he couldn’t have guessed that the two of them had read a comic book in the dark, under a flashlight Rael had nicked from Godfather’s office for this exact purpose. Nine was too early to go to bed. Stealing may be _wrong_ but this was on them.

He had to take the risk of leaving his room tonight because he needed water. Nibbles too, probably. He couldn’t forgive himself if Nibbles got dehydrated or something. Rabbits were fragile creatures, unlike humans or Nobles, and despite what Father had said, he knew they couldn’t survive on the moon. Godfather had backed him up on that one.

Rael halted on his way down the stairs, being careful not to let the floorboards creak, at the sound of angry voices from the living room.

Were they fighting again? He rolled his eyes, pulling Nibbles closer to his chest. The fur on her ears tickled his nose and he had to take a deep breath to avoid sneezing. He regretted listening in every time, but he usually understood less than half of what was going on and curiosity demanded he eavesdrop and attempt to decipher nevertheless.

He ducked just enough that he was safely out of view while he could also see them from up here. He was gifted at that, being stealthy, unnoticeable when he wanted to be. Nibbles was thankfully cooperative against his chest. Just to be on the safe side he carefully covered her mouth with a part of his palm.

“ _So just anyone that looks like him will do?_ ”

Rael flinched at the tone of Father’s voice. It was rare for him to shout but somehow that made it a hundred times worse when he did raise his voice. Rael didn’t envy Godfather for being on the receiving end of that scolding. He pressed forward for a closer look.

They were close to the wine cabinet, facing one another with expressions that Rael was more familiar with in contexts such as this than he probably should’ve been. There was anger, and disagreement, and emotions that he didn’t know how to describe, prevalent and alarming no matter how many times he witnessed them. Briefly he wondered if he should go downstairs and distract them both.

A shadow passed across Father’s face and—

He tripped, startled out of his absent plotting. Rael caught himself just in time, but when he looked up again, looked for Father, he found a stranger standing in his place.

Gone were the familiar soft lines of Father’s eyes that gently wrinkled his brow when he frowned, and the long hair he was often allowed to fiddle with and get entangled. In Father’s place stood a man Rael had never seen before, a _Noble,_ in black clothes that looked stiff and out of place in the warm light of the living room, with black hair and a sickly pallor, and a hard, blank gaze that looked superior and indifferent.

Nibbles squeaked in alarm, and his heart dropped in his chest with the thought that he’d been given away, but Godfather only stared at the stranger like he’d slapped him across the face as Nibbles struggled out of his arms and bolted back up the stairs.

Rael could not move. His pulse thrummed too loud in his ears. Something ugly and twisted had wound itself around his throat and it screamed at him to run away too.

Godfather snapped. Rael lost his footing enough to hit his back on the wall at the same time the imposter was shoved violently against the cabinet door, making the glasses rattle, and Godfather too raised his voice, “Stop! _Stop this!_ ”

The stranger stared back at him with wide eyes, rattled to the core. Godfather’s own expression was one of shock, disbelief, horror—emotions Rael had hardly ever seen break through that proud and unshakeable façade that inspired him so.

A shadow passed again, and this time he bore witness; the stranger’s unwelcome visage slowly morphed into his Father’s features, but gone was the sense of comfort and warmth Rael had always associated with that face.

Father could do that. Father could _change his form._ And the form he had chosen to take—

“Am I still not good enough for you?” His voice was quiet, and it felt so wrong, so unnatural. “Even when I look like him?”

Rael did not know who _he_ was. But he understood well enough.

The invisible pressure around his throat disappeared and he turned around, heading back up the stairs towards his room without a second glance. Blocking out the rest of their childish argument.

With no regard for whether they heard him or not, Rael slammed the door shut behind him and sunk to the floor, head in his hands as his shoulders shook.

He laughed, because it was ridiculous. After all this time, after seeing them fight and argue and insult each other when they thought he couldn’t see them, for the dots to connect this way—surely it couldn’t be _anything_ less than the universe mocking him?

Nibbles appeared at his feet, and he picked her up affectionately. Her furs tickled his nose familiarly.

“Can you believe this?” he asked her. She didn’t comment on the way his voice cracked just a fraction, leaning contentedly into his touch. “Can you believe that that’s why they fight all the time? Because of some guy who’s not even _here?_ ”

He set her on his lap and stroked her fur softly.

“He’s not here for Father or Godfather but they fight with each other because of _him._ Isn’t that…isn’t that really _stupid,_ Nibbles?”

He could imagine her agreeing with him. Rael crouched to kiss the top of her head, the way Father had shown him how to, because she was a fragile creature who wouldn’t go a day without love.

“I think…”

He watched her red eyes lull shut under the gentle rhythm of his fingers caressing between her ears.

“I think, you and I are stronger than them.”

* * *

The sun was at its zenith on this particular sweltering afternoon. Rael Kertia, Form 11, notorious truant, sat on the edge of the flat concrete roof, well-worn shoes dangling off the side of the building. He wouldn’t call it idling or wasting time; he was of the firm belief that the music he listened to did something to improve his speed and focus during practice spars. It was more good than YeRan’s formal lessons did for him anyway.

The music was cut off with another track, a ringtone, and the phone screen that had gone black lit up to let him know that Frankenstein was calling. He cut the line in less than two seconds. Five seconds later, the display vibrated with another call. Frankenstein. He disconnected again, grinning to himself. Rael knew this game about as well as he knew every hidden corner in YeRan—there would be attempts to reach his cell, then his Godfather would give up, and Rael would tactfully avoid him until he cooled off just in case he was _really_ pissed. It was a game he’d grown comfortable with, and that was why this time, Rael failed to consider the new variables.

“There he is!”

Rael looked up, tearing his earphones off. A suit-clad human emerged running from the adjacent roof, followed closely by a second guard who leapt gracefully onto his platform.

“I need a breather,” complained Tao, all but falling vertically against Takeo. “Hey, why didn’t we think to check here _first?_ Before we combed the whole of _Seoul?_ ”

Takeo removed the other modified human from his person at the same time Rael got to his feet and glared at them from across the roof.

“Because Boss said he said he usually leaves school.” Takeo met his gaze coolly. “Your teachers are looking for you. Please come with us.”

Rael slid his phone back into his pocket. “That’s the exact reason I’m not down there. Are you stupid or something?”

“Hey, come on.” Tao raised his hands, taking a step forward. “You’ve skipped most of the day already, is it really going to hurt—”

“Think fast!”

He was off before they could blink, leaping off the edge of the roof. His surroundings blurred and passed by as streaks of colour as Rael presently found himself in the main city, crossing over high-rises faster than his pursuers could keep up. When he looked over his shoulder they were so far away that he slowed down purpose to enjoy the chase, and the way the wind howled from up here and disheveled his hair.

“Can’t keep up?” Rael yelled over the wind, grinning. “Hah, call yourselves adults! I can’t believe Godfather hired a bunch of senior citizens to keep me in check, it’s almost insulting!”

The additional burst of speed his pursuers gave themselves in response was hardly noticeable, and Rael turned around completely, further slowing himself down by moving backwards but they still couldn’t catch up.

“You guys are such a joke! My rabbit can run faster than you!”

He was having too much fun to notice the modified humans suddenly come to a screeching halt. By the time he did realize that something was wrong, he was too committed to his current pace and trajectory that he couldn’t avoid colliding with the new presence that had materialized in his path.

He skidded back along the roof they were on, glaring up at the unwelcome interference. He expected to see the third modified human, the one with grey hair that mostly left him alone, but he was instead met with the hard, unamused glare of Ragar Kertia.

Behind him, the modified humans finally caught up, positioning themselves to cut off his routes of escape. Ragar crossed his arms looked down at him.

“You have caused a great deal of commotion today. What do you have to say for yourself?”

With a quick glance behind him to reconfirm that there really was no way out, Rael decided to play it cool.

“It’s really not such a big deal, Father,” he shrugged. “I didn’t miss anything important in school. I don’t know why these guys are making a fuss about it.”

There was a time when Ragar would have let him off with a warning, but that was before the three modified humans had landed in their lives and Father had decided _their_ opinion mattered more than Rael’s.

“Tao. Is this true?”

Rael looked over at the modified human, treating him to a threatening glare, but he was far more intimidated by whatever look Ragar was giving him over Rael’s shoulder.

“Ah, sort of…?” Tao smartly avoided making eye contact with either of them. “Boss said his teachers were looking for him, that’s why he sent us.”

_Fuck. Shit._

Ragar stared him down with narrowed eyes. “Why were they looking for you?”

“I don’t _know_ ,” Rael protested. “They’re just being difficult because they can.”

“If I were to contact Frankenstein and ask him to verify your claims, would they still stand?”

“God, ugh—” He rubbed his temples, beyond annoyed now. “Fine. I skipped a monthly test that I didn’t study for. It’s a _monthly test._ They don’t even take those seriously!”

He wasn’t imagining the aura around his father grow darker. He heard the three behind him take several steps backwards.

“I had higher expectations of you, yet you are as rash and undisciplined as always.”

Rael metaphysically blocked his ears. Drowning out Father’s lectures about _discipline_ and _dignity_ was almost second nature to him after seventeen years of having to put up with it.

“How can we entrust any responsibility to you? You continually disappoint us at every turn. I do not understand how you possess these traits that are so unlike a pureblood of the Kertia Clan when you have had a former Clan Leader to steer you in the direction of—”

 _Dignity and pride and nobility,_ Rael mentally rolled his eyes, completing the oft-repeated sentences in his head. _Your behavior is unbecoming of a Noble in so many ways that I find myself thinking, blah blah blah, our ancestors, something something honour—_

“Your brother never acted out so irresponsibly and brashly.”

Rael snapped out of his dissociating thoughts. _That_ struck a nerve.

“For fuck’s sake!”

Ragar halted mid-sentence.

“Rajak this, Rajak that, can’t you go _five minutes_ without talking about your beloved Rajak?” He was raising his voice now. “The hell do I always have to hear about him when you’re the one who left him in the first place?”

A shadow of irritation crossed his father’s face.

“Rael—”

He wasn’t in the mood to listen. “Even when you’re scolding _me_ you manage to make it about him! It’s like—it’s like _everything_ has to lead back to Rajak or it’s not your problem! Are we even separate people to you? _Rajak wouldn’t have done that,_ my _ass,_ I’m not some fucking Rajak clone for you to program to be just like the original. It’s like the only reason you had m—”

Rael coughed, his words getting lodged in his throat as something heavy and invasive pressed down on his mind. His whole body went numb and his throat refused to work for him, an excruciating pressure exerting against his very soul that forced him to stumble to his knees.

With the greatest difficulty he lifted his head against the invisible force keeping him down. Father’s eyes glowed a menacing shade of red.

The pressure slowly abated, and he collapsed onto his arms, catching his breath. His every muscle hurt worse than the most rigorous training session could achieve.

“You are not wrong,” Ragar said quietly, the red glow fading. “I have never had to use this technique of discipline on your brother.”

Despite everything, Rael wanted to talk back again, but his parched throat protested it. The only small victory he could snatch for himself was to not surrender the look of defiance in his eyes that foolishly challenged his father to do worse.

“Ragar,” called one of the modified humans. His voice seemed to shake a little. “You were busy, right? We can handle this from here, he needs to be back in school anyway.”

“All I expect from you is to carry yourself with dignity,” Ragar said, before his mood shifted to something more courteous as he addressed the human. “Thank you. I appreciate it.”

Rael noticed too late that a few stray tears had blurred his vision, but he got rid of them before the three approached, and his father left. Just a reflex response to the mind control, nothing more.

“Can you come back with us?” Takeo asked gently, as if he had a choice in the matter. Rael didn’t bother dignifying that with a response. He only wordlessly followed them back to YeRan.

He’d had just about enough bullshit for one day, though, so he gave Tao and Takeo the slip when he recognized he was being escorted to the Principal’s office. He did not want to see Godfather right now, and he had a prior commitment, anyway.

Suyi and Yuna were waiting for him by the out-of-commission vending machine adjacent to the gym. They looked up from their phones when they heard his approach.

“We’ve been here for fifteen minutes!” Suyi jabbed an accusatory finger at him. “I thought you skipped your last class?”

“I did.”

Yuna picked up her nauseatingly pink backpack off the floor and joined them, although she immediately noticed.

“Your eyes are red…”

Rael raised an eyebrow. “No shit?”

Just for that, Suyi punched him in the arm. “She’s right. What happened?”

“Nothing? I was born like this, so—”

The girls groaned simultaneously. He conceded with a sigh.

“Just the usual. He used mind control again.” Before their expressions could devolve in full-blown horror, he snagged both their bags off them and started walking towards the exit. Vocal protests followed him as they hurried to catch up.

Yuna took her bag back but Suyi pointedly did not.

“My bag is your problem now.”

Rael rolled his eyes, entirely unsurprised. They passed under the double-doors of the fire exit.

“What are we doing today?”

Yuna scooted around so she was walking backwards and in front of them. “Okay, not PC Bang, because you two will start fighting over your highscores again and I’ve had enough of that for the past week.”

“You got a better idea?” Rael asked doubtfully.

“I d—”

“Watch out!”

Suyi’s warning came too late, and Yuna ended up walking backwards right into a lightpost on the pavement. Rael snickered, and Suyi pulled her away with an unapologetic laugh.

“I think your bag protected you,” Rael remarked snidely, earning himself another punch in the arm, although Yuna’s rare blows had far less of an effect than Suyi’s.

“Stop making fun of my bag!”

“I’ve seen grade schoolers with the same bag,” said Suyi.

“You just don’t appreciate aesthetics. And _Rael._ You don’t even bring a bag to school!”

Rael grinned, tapping his temple. “Noble memorization powers.”

Yuna blinked. “Woah, for real?”

He snort-laughed. “Yes, that’s why I’m always top of the class, but don’t tell anyone.”

Suyi howled with laughter, earning themselves dirty stares from passersby, as Yuna scowled at them both and turned her nose up.

“Yeah, your C-grades are real funny.” She rolled her eyes. “You really need to do something about that. Anyway! Today’s plan: we go shopping!”

“What kind of shopping?” Suyi asked. “Rael’s gonna look _so odd_ if he just stands there in the women’s secti— _oh_.”

“I was thinking something we can all do—”

“Nope!” Suyi overtook her, a malicious grin on her face. “Yuna, you badly need to upgrade your wardrobe. Plus it’ll be really funny if Rael just stands there. And _you_ , soon I’m going to burn all of those hideous Supreme shirts you own so we need to replace them with decent clothes.”

“This is your fault,” Rael told Yuna unsympathetically.

“ _My_ fault?” she parroted in disbelief. “Suyi hijacked my plan!”

Suyi rolled her eyes. “Oh, please, like you don’t want to burn those shirts too.”

“What deserves to be burned is your hideous tour outfit from the last season,” said Rael.

“It was trendy and cute. Shut up.”

“It looked like a weeb with a hentai problem designed it.”

“What kind of metaphor is _that?_ ”

Yuna sighed at them. As per usual, it fell on her to lead the way, and she wasn’t at all surprised when neither of her friends noticed she was sticking to the original plan before later in the evening letting Suyi take over.

Tao had found them a peaceful place in which to have their afternoon meal although the term _peaceful_ was rather a dubious one in this situation. The classroom was always empty, scrapped of everything but the desks and chairs in the front row, the chalkboard and a hand-drawn chart of the human anatomy. Takeo had felt something vaguely off about the place since the beginning, and as of two days ago they’d learnt that the class was haunted and avoided religiously by students and teachers alike.

“Why are we still eating here?” M-21 inquired as they took their usual places; Tao sat on the middle desk in the front row and immediately dug into his food, Takeo sat on the teacher’s desk, and M-21 pulled a chair out for himself.

Tao spoke through a mouthful of omurice. “I fafe fu fu fin’ fa fetter face.”

“What?”

“I dare you to find a better place,” Takeo interpreted, opening his own packed lunch. Boss had given them control over one of the house’s kitchens (the other one was used almost exclusively to prepare Sir Raizel’s meals and evening snacks, and they had been banned from it when Boss found out that Tao ate a bowlful of sugar-coated walnuts in strawberry milk for breakfast). The three were in the process of learning to prepare their own meals. Tao was more than happy to have omurice or instant noodles every day and M-21 deigned it more convenient to get takeout lunches than learn how to cook, but Takeo had downloaded that one app with recipes for _real food,_ Pinterest, and diligently applied himself to becoming a better cook.

Today his creation was a salad of burnt mushrooms lathed in ketchup because they were inedible without something stronger to drown out the burnt taste.

But Takeo barely registered the atrocities of his own doing as each of them dug into their packed lunches, a serene quiet settling in the air. His mind was elsewhere. He felt anything but _serene_ or calm or at ease with himself.

He couldn’t stand it any longer. Between Tao passing him some of his omurice out of pity and M-21 loudly slurping up the bottom of his soft drink, Takeo snapped.

“So. Rael.”

Tao stole a fry from M-21. “What about him?”

Takeo regarded them both strangely. They were looking at him expectantly, like they had no idea why he would bring this up.

“You guys don’t find it…messed up?”

“Oh, you mean Ragar using that Noble power on him?” Tao winced. “Yeah, it was a little scary. Ragar can be scary when he wants to be.”

“That’s not what I’m getting at. Is it really okay to use something like that on a child?”

“He’s seventeen,” said M-21 flippantly. “And also Ragar’s son, so that’s none of our business.”

Takeo scowled. “You guys have experienced Sir Raizel’s mind-control before. You said it was painful, even though he only restricted your movements.”

“Oh, yeah, definitely.” Tao shuddered. “Wouldn’t want to go through that again. But we’re humans, and Rael’s a Noble…”

“You cannot expect me to believe that didn’t hurt.”

“That’s not what I’m saying…” Tao sighed heavily, setting his lunch down. “Look, we feel bad too, but Rael isn’t exactly fond of us. I thought we agreed to give him a wide berth.”

“I know, but—”

“Takeo. I know you have a soft spot for kids, but this isn’t something you should get involved in,” M-21 said sternly, crushing his empty takeout cup. “ _That_ kid is volatile enough he could kill us on impulse. Just stay away from him.”

Takeo wasn’t about to back down easily. “What he is is misunderstood. We’ve only been here a month and a half, and we’ve already seen things like what happened today too many times. It’s not like he ever has a chance to explain himself, or—”

“What does he have to explain? He’s messed up in the head and that makes him dangerous. Or have you forgotten the last time he threw a tantrum?”

Takeo flinched. “That was bad, but it doesn’t mean he can be written-off.”

“M has a point,” Tao interjected gently. “If Ragar and Boss can’t keep him in check, how would we be able to do anything? And like I said, he’s _really_ not fond of us. That’s not a good foot to start off with.”

Takeo looked between his comrades, both of whom appeared to not buy into his argument in the slightest. He conceded their points with a nod and returned to his lunch. Their relief was palpable.

His feeling uneasiness didn’t go away, nor did he admit that they were right.

“I’m _dying,_ ” Suyi complained, dragging their bags behind her. Or, more accurately, _her_ bags, because more than half the shopping they had done today had yielded things that had caught her eye. “How aren’t you tired? We were, like, all over everywhere! _E-v-e-r-y-w-h-e-r-e._ ”

Rael snatched one of the bags mid-air before she accidentally flung it across the road.

“Stop that. People will think you’re drunk.”

“I’m cute-drunk,” insisted Suyi, leaning halfway on him because her legs were too tired. “Anyway, my parents are actually home for dinner tonight. Like, for _real_. They said there’d be a lot of food, do you wanna join us?”

“What, and sit through them trying to recruit me again? I’ll pass.”

She sighed, long-suffering. “I mean, it’s not a bad alternative to consider because your grades are shit and you’ll soon need a job, so…”

Rael shouldered her off him, to no avail. “Just what are you implying?”

Suyi was unapologetic. “Listen, listen. You’re all looks and no brains. _Embrace it_.”

“Look who’s talking!”

She elbowed him pointedly in the ribs. “I did better than you in math for two terms.”

Rael snorted. “I did better than you at history.”

“That’s because you copied off Yuna!”

“Only for the multiple choices!”

“Rael, that’s _half our grade._ ”

They arrived at the lobby of Suyi’s apartment building, a luxury residential complex with sleek silver edges on the revolving doors at the entrance, lobby chairs made to look ultra-modern and monochromatic canvas paintings and wall décor. They took the lift to the fifteenth floor.

Rael took her bags from her when the lift doors opened, laughing at the dirty look she shot him ( _Really?_ Now? _After all this time?_ ) and drifting on ahead of her when she paused to kick a pebble out of her shoe.

She hobbled over to her apartment door and fished for her keys but realized halfway that she didn’t need to. “Oh, my parents are home!”

She rang the doorbell instead and settled back on her heels, her eyes bright and excited. Rael looked the other way to hide his own half-smile; he did not always understand why Suyi was so happy to see her parents when they only bothered to visit her when it was convenient for them, but he could at least relate to the irrational desire for acknowledgement no matter what their parents did.

Suyi rang the bell a second time. They listened to it trill inside the apartment.

“Maybe they aren’t home yet,” Rael said. “Let’s just go in.”

“Maybe…” Suyi trailed off, a frown creasing her brow.

The apartment was dark when they stepped in except for the city’s lights that filtered in from the windows. Wordlessly, Rael flicked every light switch on.

“They were supposed to be here by six, and it’s eight now.”

He turned to her. “You should probably call—”

“It’s fine. They probably had their reasons.” She shrugged, smiling uneasily. “You need to grab your stuff, right? Come on.”

He followed without a word as she lead him to her room, where they’d kept his so-called _camping gear_ hidden away. It was a common practice of his to collect this backpack- the one he was originally supposed to use for school- at times when he didn’t wish to return home for a night or two. It was always days like today, when he wanted to avoid Father or Godfather because one or both of them were pissed at him.

Suyi dropped down onto her bed while he fished his bag from underneath. She’d used some stuffed animals to keep it shielded from view.

She was fidgety, and he knew what she was about to say before she said it.

“Can I come with you?”

Rael hesitated. He understood her disappointment, but this was not the first time. She hadn’t made that request before.

“I won’t get in the way,” Suyi promised. “You can do whatever it is you do, I’ll just hang around. I can’t—I can’t be at home right now.” She laughed humorlessly. “Just, uh. Just how empty this place is right now, is making me angry. I’m so pissed off.”

He slung the bag over a shoulder and considered her. She massaged her temples like she felt a headache coming on.

“Alright.”

Suyi looked up immediately, her eyes wide as if she hadn’t expected a positive response. “You mean it?”

“I can’t exactly take you to the places I usually go. Too far out. But.” He gestured towards their shopping bags haphazardly lying on the bed. “Fuck parents. Let’s look out for ourselves.”

Cheonggyecheon Stream was located fifteen meters below street-level, its manmade banks moderately crowded with locals and tourists alike. Avoiding the risk of public recognition as usual, Suyi wore a mask, but at least it complemented the new outfit she’d dropped a lot of cash on earlier this evening. And the fact that Rael had actually worn the white shirt and suspenders set she’d got for him today _,_ was strangely touching, more so because he knew how much she hated his sense of fashion on a good day and because he and Yuna had made such a big deal of how ludicrously expensive the new clothes were.

Suyi glanced over at the choppy waters, sheened over with reflections from the city above. What she didn’t tell her friends was that this, at least, was one way her money brought her some happiness, because the only other person she had to spend it on was herself. She enjoyed what she did, really, it had always been her dream, but if it weren’t for all the encouragement she got from everyone who wasn’t her parents, she knew she probably would’ve burned out by now. They were in the industry themselves and far too busy for anything more than a phone call congratulating her on her most recent success. They didn’t manage her themselves because they wanted her to make a name for herself on her own, and claimed it was for her own benefit. In a way, she admired Rael’s complete refusal to be dependent on his parents, because dependency was something she associated with parental affection and dearly wished for.

“You know, I’m surprised,” she commented as they passed under one of the many bridges. “This isn’t what I imagined you did when you camped out.”

Rael treated a tourist to a death glare when the man bumped into him, making him scurry away with an apology in a foreign language. “Why, what did you think I did?”

“Honestly? Run a cage-fighting ring or be in the mafia or something.”

“Bold of you to assume I don’t.”

“You are such a bad liar.”

“You can come watch my champion brawler in the Gangam underground sometime. His name’s Sonn Gokuen.”

Suyi shoved him, laughing.

They passed by one of the fountains, its thick curtain of water white and reflecting colours from the buildings and passing vehicles from above, although the noise didn’t carry. Here there was only the chatter of people on walks and families spending quality time together.

Rael snorted to himself. Stupidly enough, he could see himself in them; once upon a time his father had taken him on similar excursions, to places of culture and interest, when he hadn’t even been old enough to tell what the big deal about them was. In fact, he vaguely remembered Cheonggyecheon itself; back then it was permitted to dip his feet inside, and Father had let him do as he pleased. Suyi, he was sure, either had similar experiences with her parents or hadn’t any to begin with.

“Did yours sort of just forget you, too?”

Suyi let her head hang carelessly back. She’d taken a risk with letting her hair loose today; made it easier to be recognized.

“I don’t think they were ever involved enough that I would’ve noticed being forgotten.”

“But you still want them to acknowledge you.”

She shrugged. “I know it’s dumb, but they’re my parents. Isn’t it only natural?”

“That shouldn’t give them special consideration.”

“You don’t think so?”

He tiredly carded his fingers through his curls. “I—used to think it did. But it started to become clear how small of a part I play in their lives, and I don’t think there’s fixing that. My Father has been around for probably thousands of years and he’s known Godfather, my brother and Raizel-nim for, I don’t know, centuries? I’ve existed _seventeen years._ ”

Suyi whistled. “I can never wrap my head around how Noble ageing works… but I kind of get what you mean by not feeling like a part of their lives. My parents still act like they used to before I was born. Actually, I think it’s worse now. They’re even more busy and in-demand and they love to soak up every bit of it.”

The shadow of yet another bridge fell across their faces as they continued on in silence.

Suyi snapped.

“You know what? We’re not helping ourselves by letting it get to us. Now that we’re here, let’s just treat ourselves! Fancy dinner!”

Rael narrowed his eyes at her. “You spent an obscene amount of money on me and Yuna today—”

“ _Rael._ Shut up. It’s my money. And _I_ would really rather have fancy dinner with my best friend than my parents, anyway!”

He halted abruptly in his tracks. She kept walking, skipping really, for a good couple of meters before she noticed he’d fallen behind. She quickly retraced her steps.

“Uh, ground control to Rael? What’s up with you?”

His voice was smaller than he’d expected it to be when he asked, with disbelief bordering on something that made his heart feel light for the first time in weeks, probably, “I’m your best friend?”

“Eh? Why is that news to y…” Suyi trailed off. “Oh. You thought—”

He simply stared at her. She bounced back awkwardly on her heels. A couple of disgruntled tourists swore at them for blocking the path and passed around them.

“I didn’t think anyone…”

“Did I say something wrong…?”

“No!” He was immediately defensive. “That’s not it! I just—did not think that anyone thought of me as a first choice in— _anything._ ”

Suyi fell silent. It did not take a genius to follow that line of thought.

“Well.” She stuffed her hands in her pockets. They were really standing right in the middle of the path and pissing everyone around them off. “ _Well,_ if it means anything, I don’t care who your brother is or how much better he apparently is than you. And I know for sure that no one else has really been with me through every low point in my life so far like you have, and we both have the same fucked up problems and the same bad habits, and the same taste in music, and I think your sense of style is garbage but you know my opinion on that because we’re friends and we both want what’s best for each other. Don’t you think that’s enough to make you my first choice?”

He continued to stare for a short eternity before he looked away in a hurry and Suyi had to try her best not to laugh at the obvious look of embarrassment and the bad attempt at hiding it. She punched his arm hard enough to punctuate her point.

“Let’s go stuff our faces, dumbass.”

Rael took the liberty of exercising a light mind-control on the patrons of the high-end streamside restaurant Suyi dragged him to so that she wouldn’t need to worry about being recognized in public. Suyi shoved a menu in his face and wished him good luck in being mindful of the prices, and he immediately saw why.

“What the fuck do they make this food out of?”

“Diamond, gold shavings and Jeff Bezos.” Suyi smiled pleasantly. “So what will it be?”

Rael stabbed a finger at the dessert list on the menu. “Daisuke Kambe.”

“You think Daisuke is richer than Jeff Bezos?”

“Iron Man.”

“He has a name, you know.”

“Uh, yeah, Bruce Wayne? Don’t ask dumb questions.”

“Don’t say dumb things with such a serious face!”

“You want to start with desert?”

“Do you even need to _ask?_ ”

Desert was served in offensively small portions, and the chocolate mousse with cake crumbs did come with edible flowers (that tasted _godawful_ and ended up being leftovers with half of every petal intact) and the hot ice cream had drizzlings of cinnamon and some imported spices, which also became a combination they suffered through. Suyi decided they weren’t taking any risks with the main course and ordered _samgyetan_ , _naengmyeon_ , scorched rice with shrimp, and a cold vegetable salad because salads balanced out fried indulgences or at least made you feel a little less guilty.

By the end of it all she regretted everything, but Rael managed to get away with it thanks to some inherent Noble ability that turned their stomachs into black holes.

“You wanted to know what I usually do on nights like this,” Rael recalled as they walked out of the reputable establishment that left a sizeable dent in Suyi’s wallet.

She immediately stopped groaning about how she was never going to eat anything again, ever. “You’re actually going to tell?”

He laughed, the wind in his face. They more or less aimlessly wandered along the pavement. It was half past ten.

“It’s really not exciting. Most of the time I leave Seoul, just go wherever that feels like a good idea. It’s kind of cool to see everything from above at night. Recently I’ve been working on something.”

Suyi’s eyes sparked. “Like…building an Iron Man suit?”

“What is with you and Iron Man?”

“You’re the one who brought it up first!”

“I did n—well, _anyway_ , it’s easier to show you than explain.”

The wall before them was perhaps older than they were, yellowed, cracked and moss-ridden around the edges, just like the abandoned single-story house it was attached to. The entire structure would be dauntingly morose, haunted even at this time of night, if not for the vibrant spatterings of color on the wall.

The graffiti was chaotic and disorderly except for the centerpiece, a curved black dagger with gilded edges and a bronze handle, around which golden sparks were cracked along the background of neons like indentations left by lightning.

“This is amazing,” Suyi commented, tentatively touching the paint. The colours were fresh, recent. “How did you pull it off?”

Rael dropped his backpack to the ground, half-unzipped. A canister of spray paint poked out of the opening. “This is the fifth wall I practiced on.”

“The _fifth—_ ”

“The others are in Goyam, Seongnam, Gunpo and Hanam. I told you I go far out.”

“Wow.” She pushed away from the wall to consider the painting in its entirety. “I thought you kept like, snacks and clothes in that bag, not the Louvre’s basement.”

“That doesn’t…make sense.”

“Yes, it does. It means a shitload of art stuff.”

“This is why I do better than you at history.”

She punched his arm. “Shut up. Is there a reason you made this in particular? Like, does it mean anything?”

Rael knelt by his bag and dumped its contents onto the ground instead of dignifying that with an answer. He handed her a can of white spray paint.

“Wait, I can really do this?” she asked with a concerned expression. “What if I ruin it?”

Rael rolled his eyes and forced the can into her hands. “I wouldn’t be doing this on moss-infested walls if I wanted to create sellable art, Suyi.”

“Right…” She watched him pick up another can, a black one, and pull a cloth mask over his face before he started decorating a lower section of the wall, one she hadn’t studied too closely.

Suyi considered the one she’d been given. She pulled her own mask up, the one she wore in public to avoid recognition. The paint was harder to use than she’d imagined, difficult to get out of the spray without pressing the button with considerable effort, and her result was a misshapen, dripping blob on the wall.

Rael appeared at her shoulder and snickered at the poor attempt. She swiped the frothing nozzle to smear his hair.

“ _Hey!_ ”

“I’m a beginner at this! Don’t be an ass!”

She hollered laughing when Rael shook his hair out like an alarmed dog and fixed her with a dirty look.

She snorted. “Be grateful it’s not brown—”

She couldn’t duck in time to avoid the spray that hit the back of her own head point-blank.

“Be grateful it’s not brown, although any stray drops will probably look like headlice,” said Rael innocently.

“Oh my fucking god, you…!”

He zapped away, lightning-quick, appearing behind her before she could throttle him.

“Keep up!”

“I take it back. You’re demoted.”

Rael fake-gasped. “That’s outrageous! It’s unfair!”

“Take a _seat,_ young Skywalker.”

Takeo picked up the sound of footfalls before he heard rapping at his door. Tao stood outside in blue cat-print pajamas, a matching set, his light grey eyes puffy and bleary.

“It’s twelve in the morning,” Takeo pointed out, well aware that this meant Tao wasn’t the only one who should presently be asleep.

“I need a hug,” pouted Tao. “Be a good friend and give me a hug. Last time I asked M for one he clawed me.”

“Did you ask him at twelve a.m?”

“Irrelevant.” Tao held his arms out. “Hug.”

“Why?”

“Irrelevant.”

Takeo rolled his eyes but complied all the same. Tao came away with a sniffle.

“What is wrong with you?”

“Seungho is so nasty to Na-kyum…”

Takeo blinked. “What? Who?”

Tao raised his phone, on which he was reading—a manhwa.

“You. Are walking around the house. Looking for hugs. Because of a _comic?_ ”

“A manhwa,” corrected Tao prissily. “And excuse me, isn’t that a valid reason? I’m so upset right now.”

“If I had been asleep and you’d woken me up for this I would’ve shot you.”

Tao looked affronted. “Are my feelings a joke to you?”

“Yes,” answered Takeo without hesitation, before something that had grated on his mind for the past couple of hours occurred to him yet again. “By any chance, did Rael come back?”

“No.” Tao sighed. “His door’s still open and he’s missing.”

Takeo frowned to himself. Rael hadn’t returned home since school ended; the last time they’d seen him had been before he’d given them the slip on the way to Frankenstein’s office. He had expected a bigger deal to be made of that, but when Rael hadn’t returned home even by ten and he’d tentatively mentioned this to Ragar, the Noble had only remarked that his son made a habit of this when he was in a bad mood.

He had not been worried at all or appeared bothered in the slightest that this apparent regular habit of Rael’s was practiced for the sole purpose of avoiding him.

“Takeo,” Tao said, suddenly sounding sober. “I know what you’re thinking. Stop it.”

“I’m not thinking anything,” he returned flatly, starting to close the door. “Goodnight.”

Tao stood by the door for a good five seconds after it was shut. His retreating footsteps were so light that Takeo almost didn’t catch them despite his enhanced hearing.

He put away the guns he’d been working to modify and dropped down onto his bunk. The nagging feeling of unease hadn’t gone away; in fact it had only grown worse, and Takeo spared some thought on the facts he had. It would be dishonest to deny that his perspective was compromised. He had gone all his life believing he had a younger sibling, had even lived for her, _killed for her,_ allowed the Union to use him for unspeakable things. He'd taken to sparing child soldiers in battle and protecting civilians on his missions because he saw _her_ in them; he could never hurt _her_ or stand by and watch as _she_ was hurt. And when he had found a new life working in a school to protect so many others just like _her,_ it had eased off some of the pain from learning that she had never been real in the first place.

Tera could have never done any wrong in his eyes. Nobody who reminded her of him—children, innocents _—_ could ever do wrong that justified harsh punishment, or whatever it was that Ragar did in the name of raising his son, no matter how much Takeo respected the Noble and appreciated all he had done for them.

_Tao, M. I’m sorry. You’re wrong about this._

He would just have to trust his own instincts about Rael Kertia and take a leap of faith. 

**Author's Note:**

> Join our community on the Cadiscord Etrama di Raizel discord sever! **https://discord.gg/Ad97bDS23Q**


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